Blues harmonica player James Cotton performs with Elvin Bishop and Ruthie Foster

In 1944, at just 9 years old James Cotton was an orphan on the Bonnie Blue plantation in Tunica, Miss. The young boy had learned to play the harmonica, first from his mother who had made train whistle and chicken clucking sounds and then from the great Sonny Boy Williamson II's radio show "King Biscuit Time" broadcast from across the River in Helena, Arkansas. From these difficult beginnings, Cotton went on to work with the biggest names in blues, and that continues today.

"Superharp"Cotton's long and illustrious career is chronicled on his latest CD "Cotton Mouth Man," an autobiographical disc with plenty of guest performers (Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, Keb' Mo,' Warren Haynes, Chuck Leavell, and Ruthie Foster among others). North State audiences can get a taste of that and more when Cotton, along with local favorites Elvin Bishop and Foster make a stop at Laxson Auditorium on Saturday for a night of "Rock, Blues, and Barroom Boogie" on the campus of Chico State University, thanks to Chico Performances.

After his parents' deaths, an uncle took Cotton to meet Williamson.

"Sonny Boy kinda means everything to me. He was the first one I played with, in Arkansas and I went to his radio station. Got a chance, I was 9 years old and was there until I was 15," Cotton explained in his rough voice during a telephone call from his home in Austin, Texas. Throat Cancer in 1993 has made his voice hoarse and sometimes difficult to hear, so his wife Jacklyn was on the extension making sure he was understood.

As a consequence of the cancer, he doesn't sing much these days, although he does lay down his raw vocals next to a resonator guitar on the sparse "Bonnie Blue," about his childhood home, the closing cut on his new CD.

"Yeah it was very bad," Cotton said about having to stop singing. "I really do miss it."

Fortunately, the cancer did not affect his wind and ability to blow, which at 78 seems as strong as ever. Although he might not be blowing the reeds out of his harps as he did back in the day.

"I played with Howlin' Wolf on his first two records on the Sun label. The record company was just getting started," Cotton recalled, "and I don't think he (Sam Phillips) really knew what he was doing. He was just trying to make it happen. This was long before Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and those guys."

Then Muddy Waters recruited him to be a member of his band after Little Walter left.

"Well, Muddy was a different guy. He was born in the country and went to Chicago. That's where I met him," he said. "But he had changed from his country ways. He was smoother and I had to pick up on what they were doing. I enjoyed every minute of it. Although I got fired. 1960. Newport Jazz Festival. It was 'I'll Put a Tiger in your Tank' and the band noticed he forgot the words. And he looked over at me and said, 'you messed up my song.' I said, 'I think you messed up you own song.' He said 'you didn't say the word. I'm Muddy Waters and you didn't say the word.'"

"Muddy fired Cotton," Jacklyn clarified. "No, no he wasn't really fired because he called him up a couple of days later – and he didn't say your hired back – he just said to Cotton we've got to go to the studio and redo that part. And Cotton said 'I know' and he was back in the band. And it happened, like three times."

After 12 years Cotton headed out on his own.

"Yeah, I left in 1965,"Cotton said. "I did everything I could do with Muddy Waters and rock and roll was just coming in, and I wanted to do some of what was going on. Muddy Waters didn't expect me to leave, but I wanted to play some rock and roll and come back off the blues. I tried it. It was good because they (1960s rockers) had a new style of doing things. I could hear the blues chord but they were doing it different and that's where I wanted to be. And now I go back to the blues."